The Leicester Square LEGO store has been the subject of extensive promotion since it opened in 2016 and much of the associated advertising has been focused upon Lester. This minifigure embodies the United Kingdom and received a great deal of attention in advance of the store opening. Many fans were therefore disappointed to discover that just 275 copies of the figure had been produced for the occasion.

Fortunately, LEGO has now released 40308 Lester as an exclusive product for the Leicester Square LEGO store, giving all those who missed out on the original exclusive minifigure an opportunity to acquire an identical version which also comes with a black umbrella. I have been very excited to add Lester to my collection, so much so that the relatively high price of £5.99 at the store seems quite reasonable!

Minifigure

Lester features a brand new smiling head and wears a striking three-piece suit. The Union Flag waistcoat is perhaps the most eye-catching aspect of the minifigure and it looks marvellous in contrast with the dark blue jacket and trousers. I particularly appreciate the impressive attention to detail as the diagonal red stripes on the waistcoat are slightly offset, just as they are on the traditional flag.

The minifigure also wears a black bowler hat which is fairly rare, having come in just five sets before now. This element was out of production until recently, hence the limited number of figures which were available in 2016. It was certainly worth the wait though as a properly dressed British minifigure would not be complete without appropriate headgear!

Lester is wisely equipped with an umbrella in readiness for the sudden rain showers which are a notorious feature of British weather. This element has only appeared in three previous sets and looks splendid, with impressive moulded detail throughout the folded canopy as well as a handle for the minifigure to grip.

Overall

It almost goes without saying that 40308 Lester is a worthy addition to your collection if you are able to visit the Leicester Square LEGO store in London. The polybag is priced at £5.99 so is considerably more expensive than most items of a similar size, although its exclusivity goes some way to justify that in my opinion and it is undoubtedly a superb souvenir.

However, the secondary market demands a higher price so those who are unable to visit London will be required to pay around £15.00 or $20.00 at the moment. I would hesitate to spend that amount as I expect the price will reduce as excitement surrounding the polybag abates, particularly since it has only been available for just over a week!

I hope you have found this review informative. Let us know by liking this article and share your thoughts on the set in the comments below.

Why would you have to replace Lester's yellow head and hands for fleshies for the minifigure to be either Jeeves or Wooster? LEGO has had yellow-skinned minifigures representing fictional characters before, e.g. the CMF saxophonist that was obviously an allusion to the Blues Brothers.

Also, Jeeves and Wooster were originally characters in a series of short stories by P.G. Wodehouse. The telly series to which you refer came decades later.

@zanderSo they look more realistic, I am aware that the traditional yellow has represented real people in lego, s earlier product's such as harry Potter and star wars but then later on were changed to flesh coloured life like minifigs,

If you can't make it to London and want to get it for the best price on the secondary market, wait until early 2018. Not only will the hype around this minifigure have died down by then, but there will be more supply as people buy this polybag from the Leicester Square store. It's best to hold off until after Christmas to avoid renewed demand for this polybag as a holiday gift.

@legoavenger14

That minifigures look better as fleshies is a matter of opinion. The fact that they are more realistic or closer to a film's or telly programme's representation, doesn't make them superior. Standard minifigure heads don't have moulded ears and noses. They would be more lifelike if they did. Would that make them better?

Why would they look like Jeeves and Wooster? Bertie Wooster typically wears tweeds or a suit and for a hat a cap, fedora or boater as appropriate with the jacket, and Jeeves normally wears a black suit with the bowler hat or occassionally more formal tails. The only pieces I can see of use for Jeeves and Wooster would be the bowler hat and the umbrella.

Wondering if these will eventually go down to sub-$20 levels on eBay. I'd get one in a heartbeat. I think it's great LEGO has released Lester in a form that's slightly more accessible. The people who got him during the Leicester Square opening still have the individually numbered blister packs that make it exclusive, but this was just too cool a minifigure to not rerelease at a later date.

Not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand it is nice to see Lester generally available as he is a very nice figure. On the other the price seems somewhat a kick in the teeth, double a CMF and £1 more expensive than a build a minifigure 3 pack! I'm not quite sure how Lego can justify this pricing, it's like they are trying to be their own scalpers.

The relatively small numbers of these minifigures that LEGO is producing (compared to a CMF for example) means they won't benefit as much from economies of scale, so their unit costs will be higher. That additional cost gets past on to consumers. Also, the Leicester Square store sees large numbers of tourists who will be attracted to this minifigure as a souvenir. People are often less careful about/aware of prices when they are on holiday especially when in a foreign currency environment which would be true for visitors from outside the UK. LEGO can therefore get away with a higher price.

@legoavenger14

Likes here are not much of a measure of anything. The sampling method, sample size, response rate and response number (8 at the time of writing) are likely too small to be representative or statistically significant. Besides, we don't know what people were liking: were they liking your suggestion that the minifigure could be Jeeves, Wooster, both Jeeves and Wooster, fleshy, or fleshy Jeeves and Wooster?

The success of Friends suggests that among a specific target demographic (girls within some particular age band), minidolls are preferred to minifigures. It is not safe to conclude from that that other themes would have better sales if they switched to minidolls. I suspect that LEGO have done market research and found that minifigures are more popular in most other themes. Short-term sales gains though should not be the only determinant of switching from figures to dolls. Replacing minifigures with minidolls would probably damage LEGO's brand as the minifigure is now iconic. For the same reason, LEGO may have decided to keep yellow-skinned minifigures rather than switching to all fleshies; yellowies have a brand association.

Is anyone concerned about the inevitability of Lego prices in the UK going up when the country finally leaves the common market? Whatever the strength of sterling in the future, there will be some kind of customs duties that aren't currently applied.

Latest reviews

Discover LEGO at Brickset

Brickset is a community of LEGO fans from around the world with a passion for sharing, discussing, recording and building. Sign up for a FREE account to unlock all the site's features and to enjoy it ad-free.